Ricoh WG-70 Ultra-Rugged Camera Launced

2020.02.05

Continuing with the Pentax tradition of producing incredibly rugged digital camera, owners Ricoh just unveiled their WG-70. This comes with some tweaks to the WG-60 with identical construction. This camera is waterproof to depths of 14 meters for up to 2 hours, shockproof to 1.6m drops, crushproof to 100kg, freezeproof to -10C, weatherproof and dustproof.

Inside its rugged construction, the Ricoh WG-70 features a 16 megapixels BSI-CMOS sensor paired with an internal 3X optical zoom. Its focal-range is equivalent to 28-140mm with a dim F/3.5-5.5 maximum aperture common of these types of lenses. Its lens has super macro capability and can focus down to 1cm from the front element. 6 LED lights arranged around the lens provide even illumination of close up macro photography.

The remaining specifications for this digital camera are fairly limited. The 1/2.3" BSI-CMOS sensor supports an ISO 125-6400 sensitivity range. Focus is available at just 9 points and the rear LCD measures 2.7" diagonally with 230K pixels, which is the smallest and lowest resolution screen available these days. There is no actual image stabilization in this camera, although it attempts to simulate it in software somehow. A few features of the Ricoh WG-70 do standout. This includes IR receptors on both sides of the camera and an interval timer.

Ricoh is expecting to ship this WG-70 at the end of March for $280 USD or $360 CAD. Amazon.ca and Adorama are already accepting pre-orders.

• Digital Camera